Training the Next Generation of Early Childhood Education Teachers: Students’ perspectives on academic vs. practice-oriented experiences in university training

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Training the Next Generation of Early Childhood

Education Teachers:

Students’ perspectives on academic vs. practice-oriented

experiences in university training.

Course: Thesis project, 15 credits

Program: EDUCARE The Swedish model of preschool education Author: Aikaterini Georgiadou

Examiner: Beth Ferholt Semester: Spring, 2018

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JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY

School of Education and Communication Thesis Project, 15 Credits

EDUCARE The Swedish model of preschool education Master Program  Spring, 2018

Abstract

_______________________________________________________________________________ Aikaterini Georgiadou

Training the Next Generation of Early Childhood Education Teachers:

Students’ preferences for their theoretical-based and practice-based training experiences

Number of pages: 28

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The combination of theory and practice in all forms of teacher training has always been a topic of debate in policy and research. Research examining university training of preschool teachers in Sweden highlights problems in the application of theory in practice in preschool teacher training. Specifically, the kind of prob-lem identified is the lack of opportunities given to students to apply the knowledge gained through the uni-versity courses during their internships at the preschools. As a result a “gap” is created between the theory learnt and the application of this theory into practice, which in turn limits the opportunity for professional development. The meaning of professional development is to improve the knowledge and skills that the stu-dents have about their profession. The aim of this study is to understand student perspectives in relation to the combination of academic vs. practice-oriented coursework in preschool teacher training in Sweden. Specifically, this study examines the preferences of undergraduate preschool education students in Sweden regarding academic vs. practice-oriented courses, as well as if and how these courses contribute to their pro-fessional development. Final year student of a preschool education program at a college in southern Sweden completed an online survey to assess their perspectives on academically oriented and practice-oriented cour-ses of their program. Students, regardless of whether or not they had previous experience working in early childhood education and care, reported that practice-oriented courses helped them with their professional development. Student also declared that the theory learnt through their academically oriented courses gener-ally proved to be applicable in practice. Two types of future research are proposed in order to capture a wider variety of student perspectives about their training program as preschool education teachers.

_______________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: Preschool teacher’s education program, practice courses, theoretical courses, students perspectives, Sweden

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Swedish preschool provision has been internationally recognized as a leader in providing high-qual-ity early childhood education and care (OECD, 2001; OECD, 2006). The qualhigh-qual-ity in preschool pro-vision is directly connected to the quality of preschool teacher’s education: to have good quality preschool education, the preschool teachers responsible for that education have to be well-educated (OECD, 2017). Recent research has shown that there is a risk of undergraduate preschool teacher training in Sweden becoming predominantly focused on academically oriented courses, to the detriment of the education of the students. In other words, if the focus of preschool education pro-grams becomes too heavily weighted on academic content, then students will be deprived of a more holistic education, one that strikes a balance between learning about pedagogy and theory, and hav-ing opportunities to apply and think about these theories and pedagogies in practice (Johansson, 2006). The OECD reports training gaps for the early childhood education prospective teachers, es-pecially in working with parents, infants, and toddlers, multi-cultural and special education, re-search and evaluation (OECD, 2006). This gap is a potential quality issue, as it can make it more difficult for preschool teacher-students—and, by extension, preschool teachers who have completed their education—to fully draw on their theoretical knowledge in practical situations with children in preschools (Johansson, 2006).

Johansson (2006), in a study of preschool education training in Sweden, shows that there are diffi-culties in incorporating theory-focused education into practice-based education, which in turn leads to difficulties for preschool teacher education program students to apply in practice what they learn at the university. Specifically, Johannson (2006) argues that there is a lack of connection between the academically oriented courses and the practice-oriented courses stemming from weak commu-nication and cooperation between the university and practicum placements. Furthermore, according to Karlsson-Lohmander (2015), there is a “reality gap” between the university program and the “real” work in preschool,s during which students find it hard to apply the theory of early childhood education into practice. For this reason, Karlsson-Lohmander highlights the need for more work-place-based courses in early childhood education teacher training programs.

Currently, in order to work as a preschool teacher in Sweden (as opposed to working as a preschool teacher assistant or substitute), one must obtain a university degree in Preschool Education. The

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training provided through this degree typically combines practical elements and theoretical knowl-edge through university coursework. By the end of their preschool teacher education program, teacher-students should be ready to face the real world working conditions existing in preschools. However, given the noted historical problems in linking academic and practical training in Swedish preschool teacher education, one must ask if this training adequately prepares preschool teachers for the real world working conditions. The study presented in this paper addresses this question by sur-veying the opinions of students currently enrolled in a university preschool education program in Sweden. The study focuses on these students as they are best positioned to describe if and to what degree the theory learnt is applied into practice when they are exercising their professions at a preschool. Further study of a Swedish preschool education program gives a better understanding of the balance between theoretical and practical courses in Swedish preschool education bachelor pro-grams (Malm, 2017). Despite this balance, students consider the practice-internship as something that helps the students to “identify themselves as teachers” (Malm, 2017:81). However, research is needed in order to paint a clearer picture of the kinds of courses preschool education students find useful for their professional development, and why. The perspectives of teacher-students about the practice and theory during their program will be key for this research, as it will firstly help to under-stand what kind of courses students prefer and why. Secondly it will assist to clarify how these courses contribute to the development of their professional identities.

Recent research has shown that there is a theory-practice gap in preschool teacher education pro-grams (Malm, 2017; Johansson, 2005; Karlsson-Lohmander, 2015). The gap refers to the problem that theoretical knowledge provided to students in academically oriented courses is at times difficult or even meaningless in its application to practice-oriented activities in the student training pro-grams. Throughout this thesis, the above problem will be referred to as the “theory-practice gap”. An example of this problem could be that the theoretical model taught to students on how to create an inspiring environment to teach maths, may not necessarily comply in a real world scenario due to other external factors involved within a preschool environment. There are few studies that investi-gate this problem in Swedish preschool education programs currently. This study examines the question of theory vs. practice in the organization of preschool teacher education in Sweden by specifically investigating if this theory-practice gap exists in one program of preschool teacher edu-cation in Sweden. The study is based on data gathered through self-administered surveys given to 6th_{term students of this program. The survey was designed to capture student preferences for}

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cour-ses offered in their program and student perspectives related to if and how they saw these preferred courses contributing to their professional development.

2. Background

Karlsson-Lohmander (2015) identified a gap between workplace-based and academically-based preschool teacher education. Karlsson-Lohmander’s work provides vital context behind the changes that have occurred in Swedish preschool teacher education programs over the last decades and the inclusion of work-based education in the programs. To be more specific, in 1977, the program for preschool teacher education only involved theoretical courses; in 1993 the program was evaluated and considered not well grounded in practice; so, in 2001 program emphasized the importance of more practical-based courses for the prospective preschool teachers’ professional development. Moreover, Karlsson-Lohmander (2015) presents important information for the “theory-practice gap” such as why it is not always possible to apply academic knowledge in practice in preschools, how work experience helps future teachers be highly educated and competent with their colleagues and also how the combination of them can be a reality in the early childhood teacher education pro-grams.

The OECD’s Starting Strong II report (2006) on Early Childhood Education and Care argues that practice-oriented teacher training activities in preschool education teacher training are as important to the process of preschool teacher training as academically oriented courses. The report observes that there is a need of further training for preschool education teachers even if they have a bachelor degree in order to be sure that they will “understand the curriculum and they are guided by its prin-ciples in their work” (OECD, 2006:7). Moreover, the report makes connections between practical-knowledge in preschool teacher education and the good quality of preschool education. The quality of preschool education is considered one of the most important parts of preschool, as it is closely connected to the education and knowledge that children gained. Furthermore, the OECD’s Starting Strong II report (2006) referred to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES, 2005a) which claims that is known from the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education Project (EPPE) that the better the quality of child care and early education, the better it is for the child’s development. (OECD, 2006:165). This report clarifies both the importance of academic knowledge and the prac-tice of it in the field, as they are related to the quality of preschool teacher’s education, as well as the quality of education that a preschool provides.

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Previous research has focused on the content of theoretical knowledge and practical-knowledge that preschool education teachers needed to gain, as well as the theory vs practice gap that sometimes exists in programs. Johansson (2006) highlights the importance of practice in teacher training as well as the differences that exist between the theory and the practices of teacher preschool educa-tion. Specifically, he argues that sometimes the students can’t connect the theoretical knowledge, which gains in the university with their practices in the preschool. Furthermore, he presented a clos-er look at some preschool courses at Gothenburg Univclos-ersity and their practices in the preschool teacher education program. His students, despite the difficulties that they have to apply theory in their practice internships, they appreciate the opportunity to have these practical parts during their studies, as they can observe the reality of the everyday life at the preschool and what the preschool's teachers do and say there. These findings helped to identify the real problem between the academi-cally oriented courses and practice-oriented courses. 

A more recent Swedish study by Malm (2017) examined student teachers’ perceptions and experi-ences of their preschool teacher training programs. The study aimed to: a) consider preschool teacher students opinions about their professional development and b) after an analysis of the cur-rent bachelor program of preschool teachers’ education, the students give clear their opinion about this Bachelor program in relation with their development and readiness to be preschool teachers. Malm (2017) made strong connections between the Swedish preschool teacher program and the aims of her research. In this research, Malm (2017) gives a further analysis of the “theory-practice gap” according to the students and their professional development.

2.1 The meaning of “theory” and “practice” in the preschool teachers’ education 

For the purposes of this study, it is critical that we define what will be meant by theory-based cour-ses and practice-based courcour-ses. Theory-based courcour-ses are those courcour-ses that focus primarily on aca-demic content (what we will refer to as acaaca-demically oriented courses), that is, courses that take place in the University via lectures, seminars or workshops. For example, courses like Special Edu-cation in preschool and Social Relations, Conflict Management and Pedagogical leadership. Practi-cal-based courses are those which involve students engaging in hands-on work in preschools (what we will refer to as practice-oriented courses). The core example, in this case, is the practicum cour-ses, known as VFU (Verksamhets Foraged Utbildning) courses in Swedish, but there are also other courses that include hands-on work in preschools such as Exploratory Mathematics in Preschool

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and Natural science and technology in preschool. For example, in the course of “Exploratory Math-ematics in Preschool” there are plenty of workshop on how you can connect mathMath-ematics with an-other didactic object like music in the classroom of a preschool, as well as it includes observation of the environment in the preschool in relation with mathematics and the ability to create and do a re-lated to maths activity for the children.

There is a strong potential connection between these courses/lectures in preschool teacher’s educa-tion training and their aceduca-tion in the field, but as some research has highlighted, that conneceduca-tion is not always actualized, so we have the “theory-practice gap” (Karlsson-Lohmander 2015). The word “connection” in the above sentence shows that the knowledge that students have learned in the classroom can be used for guiding action and interpretations in the preschool. Olofsson (2013) re-lates the concept of an educational contract with the higher education studies and he describes four reasons why practice is so important during the preschool teacher education program. Firstly, the prospective teacher is given the opportunity to see the educational system and the society as a whole. Secondly, the preschool education teacher-students can relate the preschool education to the labor market, and thirdly they can relate their knowledge with the preschool teacher education, that they received. Fourthly, the prospective teachers begin to visualize young students (children), them-selves as teachers and the learning process in any given educational system.

2.2 Preschool teachers’ education bachelor program in Sweden

Preschool teacher programs in Sweden provide a professional education that provides knowledge and skills for practical training as a preschool teacher. The typical program comprises 210 higher education credits and a degree graduated at the first level. The structure of preschool teacher educa-tion programs in Sweden can differ from one university to another but all have a common curricu-lum that covers core areas based on international declarations and agreements that Sweden takes into account. For example, it is necessary to have some internship opportunities during the program. The main areas of knowledge that Swedish Preschool education teachers’ students have, are three: a) knowledge and understanding, b) competence and skills, c) judgment and approach. All the pro-grams include some practice in preschool (Malm, 2017).

The specific preschool education program, which is the subject of the current study, combines acad-emical-oriented and practice-oriented courses. Specifically, as shown in table 1, each semester has

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the same number of courses which we have defined as academical-oriented and practice-oriented courses, so overall this program has 8 academical-oriented and 8 practice-oriented courses. As not-ed, for the purposes of this study with the phrase “academically oriented courses” are defined those courses that involve only classroom-based activities. Similarly, with the phrase, “practice-oriented courses” are defined those that include any components in which students must engage in field-based activities in a preschool or other off-campus site. Moreover, through the whole study those terms, “academical-oriented courses” and “practice-oriented courses”, are used intentionally to clar-ify each time the kind of the course that the text refers to. There were two categories of practice-ori-ented courses in the program. The first category is the Verksamhets Foraged Utbildning (VFU) courses, in which the students have some lectures but the most of the time includes internship weeks in a preschool. The second category included courses, that on the one hand were not practicum courses, but did include at least one field based activity in a preschool or other off-cam-pus site. Table 1 lists all of the courses in the program by semester and categorizes each in terms of their classification as academical-oriented or practice-oriented courses.

Table 1. Preschool Teacher Education Bachelor’s program courses.

Academically-Oriented Courses Practice-Oriented Courses

Semester 1

Teaching and Development for Preschool Teachers

(Lärande och utveckling för förskollärare) Preschool, School and the teaching profession based on Science and Preschool Practicum I (Förskola, skola och läraryrke på vetenskaplig grund och verksamhets förlagd utbildning I) (VFU I) Scientific Perspectives and Methods for Preschool

Teachers

(Vetenskapliga perspective ohh metoder för förskollärare)

Semester 2

The follow-up, Evaluation, and Development I for preschool teachers

(Uppföljning, utvärdering och utveckling I för förskollärare)

Didactic work in preschool I

(Didaktiskt arbete i förskolan I)

Preschool Practicum II

(Verksamhets förlagd utbildning II för förskollärare) (VFU III)

Semester 3

Children’s Language Learning and Communication in Preschool

(Barns språkliga lärande och kommunikation i förskolan)

Exploratory Mathematics in Preschool

(Utforskande matematik i förskolan)

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2.3 The competent teacher 

Given the focus in the current study on examining if and how the theory-practice gap is evident for students in the organisation of the preschool teacher education in Sweden affects, and how students understand the relationship between the course content and their professional development, it is critical to provide a definition of what is understood by a competent teacher.

The Swedish preschool curriculum, which was revised in 2010, describes that is necessary for teachers to be competent in order to deal with the curriculum goals in a professional manner. For example, the curriculum explains how the teacher and the student can reach the goals it sets out. One of the most significant examples is that a competent teacher is always responsible to create ac-tivities that are suitable for the age, interest, and abilities of her/his students (Lpfo, 2010, p. 4-5). Moreover, as teachers have to improve their skills and methods, it is very important to document and evaluate their activities, in order to provide children with the best possible conditions for

learn-Special Education in Preschool

(Specialpedagogik i förskolan) Natural Science and Technology in Preschool (Naturvetenskap och teknik i förskolan)

Social Relations, conflict management and pedagogical Leadership in Preschool

(Sociala relationer, konflikthantering och pedagogiskt ledarskap i forskolan)

Semester 5

Follow-up, Evaluation and Development II for preschool teachers

(Uppföljning, utvärdering och utveckling II för förskollärare)

Preschool Practicum III

(Verksamhets förlagd utbildning III för förskollärare) (VFU III)

The Preschool Teacher Profession

(Forskollararens profession)

Semester 6

Scientific Methods and Preschool Practicum IV

(Vetenskapliga metoder och verksamhets förlagd utbildning IV för förskollärare)

Thesis Project for Preschool Teacher

(Examensarbete för förskollärare) Table 1. Preschool Teacher Education Bachelor’s program courses.

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ing and development: “Ultimately this involves developing better work processes, being able to de-termine whether the work takes place in accordance with the goals, as well as investigating what measures need to be taken in order to improve the conditions for children to learn, develop, feel se-cure and have fun in the preschool,” (Lfpo, 2010, p.14).

The meaning of a competent teacher is very important nowadays in Sweden. Sheridan et al. (2011) conducted a study to investigate how Swedish preschool teachers understood and defined teaching competence for preschool teachers. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers throughout Sweden. Sheridan et al. (2011), described in the findings three inter-related kinds of competence, which underline the skills that a competent teacher needs: (a) The competence of what and why, is the ability of the teacher to combine at the same time her knowl-edge with the curriculum goals, to reflect on her work in order to improve the way she creates activ-ities, and the conditions of the children’s learning process, as well as the willingness to learn and improve herself as a teacher, (b) the competence of know-how that can be achieved when a teacher combines theoretical knowledge with working experience, thus gaining a better understanding of how to meet curriculum goals and face various issues arising at work and finally (c) interactive, re-lational and transactional competence, which completes the characteristics of the competent teacher as it includes the teacher’s ability to communicate various issues and ideas with diverse people in a variety of situations; the ability to be social and collaborate ethically and democratically with colleagues; the ability to be a positive role model and to know how to appreciate others’ per-spectives; as well as the ability to “meet children’s needs by providing care” (Sheridan et al., 2011:430). Sheridan et al. (2011) cite Ronnerman (2000) in describing the qualities of a competent teacher, “the teachers should not only become consumers of knowledge, but also creators of new knowledge” (Sheridan et al, 2011:420).

3. Research Aims & Questions

The research described herein aims to develop knowledge about the current state of preschool teacher education in Sweden, with a particular focus on how theory-based and practice-based cour-ses are organized in support of teacher’s education. This research examines the perspectives on the-ory vs. practice-based courses of students currently enrolled in a university preschool education program in Sweden, with a particular focus on how the students regard the usefulness of their theo-retical and practical experiences in their university coursework in helping them to become

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compe-tent preschool teachers. The aim in examining the link between student perceptions of course con-tent and their competence development is to understand the preferences of the preschool teacher’s education students between the theoretical and the more practical courses in relation with their pro-fessional development in an institution of higher education in Sweden, as well as if they identify any “gap” between the theoretical and practical courses of the program, as previous researchers claim.

The questions guiding this research are the following: 

1. Which courses do preschool teacher education students identify as helpful for their professional development as preschool teachers? What reasons do they give for their choices?

2. What aspects of the theoretical knowledge and the practical knowledge do the preschool teacher education program students identify as contributing the most to the development of their pro-fessional development as future preschool teachers?

3. How do participating preschool teacher education students rate their own competence and readiness to work full-time in a preschool?

4. Methods

The Preschool Teacher Education Program that is the focus of the current study, includes 3 and a half years of education. This research investigates the students’ preferences regarding which course they consider the best for their professional development and why, and to examine if this “why” is closely related to the kind of the course (practical - vfu or theoretical). The results will be represent-ed by the type of the course, as all the courses are important and the students explain each time the reason for their preference. An online, self-administered survey to assess student perspectives on theory and practice-based was distributed to 6th_{term students enrolled in a preschool education}

pro-gram courses at a college in southern Sweden. For ethical, data-protection and privacy reasons all the participants were informed in advance of the purpose of the research and they all completed the questionnaire anonymously.

4.1 Settings & Participants

This study focuses on the perspectives of students enrolled in an undergraduate preschool teacher education program in a medium-sized Swedish college (approximately 11,000 students). The

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partic-ipants were students enrolled in the last term of their third year in the bachelor program in preschool teacher education. Students in their final year were selected because they would have completed most of the preschool teacher education program, and thus will be best positioned to assess the courses in the program. All 84 students who in the third year class were invited to complete the anonymous online survey. Of these, 30 agreed to participate and completed the survey.

4.2 Documentation Methods

A self-administered survey was selected as the most appropriate method for addressing the study aims and questions. The survey was made available to students online in the Swedish language (see Appendix A for a copy of the questionnaire; see Appendix B for an English translation of the sur-vey). The survey combined multiple choice questions and opened ended questions. The multiple choice questions prompted students to select one course in each semester that they considered to the most valuable for their professional development. Each multiple choice question was followed by an open-ended question that prompted the students to explain what about the course they selected they considered to be most helpful for supporting their professional development. The survey con-cludes with two Likert scale questions to assess student perceptions of their preparedness for enter-ing the workforce, and their level of competence as teachers. Finally, I chose a close question to get responses about the background of the students and more specific I asked them if they have any previous working experience in a preschool. The reason that this question has been asked, was the intention to understand if the previous working experience in preschool influenced the responses of the preschool teachers’ education students in their responses and how different were from those that they hadn’t that working experience. This documentation is the most relevant, as via those questions all the research questions had been addressed in the most valid way. The reason of which I select a survey in order to collect my data, was because I need as many responses of the students as I can, in order to have a clear perspective of their opinion. The survey distributed via an email link, as well as via a link in a Facebook group page of the program and each student in the program will be asked to make a single submission. However, this method has a significant risk of a low response rate. This means that part of the people participating in the study refuses to complete the question-naire (Bryman, 2015).

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Survey data were summarised using descriptive statistics and subjected to content analyses in order to examine preschool students preferences about academically oriented and practice-oriented cour-ses in relation to their professional development. Firstly, the findings had been grouped into suitable categories, as for example which courses student prefer the most, the more theoretical or the more practical ones, in order to facilitate content analyses. Moreover, the findings were grouped into cat-egories based on the order/themes of the survey questions in order to further analysis to have the best understanding of students’ perspectives about their preferences of the courses. Content analysis was applied in order to gain a deeper understanding of the preschool teacher education students’ perspectives and thoughts about the theoretical and practical courses in relation to their professional development.

4.4 Ethical Guidelines

Participants were informed about the purpose of the research and the survey that they need to com-plete, the use of the information that they provide, as well as that their participation will be anony-mous in this survey. Furthermore, the participants are free to choose if they want to participate or not in the research, so their participation is not obligatory. Also, they informed how the data that they will provide will be used and secured.

4.5 Validity, Reliability, generalisability statement

The research conducted in order to collect valid and reliable data, to lead the researcher to conclu-sions using this information. The generalisability of the research is low as the study was conducted only in a specific program of teacher preschool education in an Institution of Higher Education in Sweden and it can’t represent the whole preschool teacher’s education programs in all Universities of Sweden (Mukherji & Albon, 2015). However, the results gave an overview of the students’ pref-erences in the practical or theoretical courses of the specific program for their professional devel-opment and how connected these are in their program.

5. Results

Overall, the results show that the majority of the time students identified practice-oriented courses as significant for their professional development while at the same time they identify strong connec-tions between the theory and the practice that they are doing during their preschool teacher

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educa-tion program. Figure 1 summarises the core study findings. Overall the students reported preferring practice-oriented courses as courses that were supportive of their professional development. In four of the six semesters surveyed, when the students had a choice between one or more practice-orient-ed vs. academically orientpractice-orient-ed course, 50% or more of the students selectpractice-orient-ed a practice-orientpractice-orient-ed course.

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Furthermore, when one focuses on the VFU courses, one finds that in all but one of the semesters that these practicum courses were offered, the VFU course was selected by most students as the course that best supported their professional development. For example, in the first semester, 50% of the students selected VFU I as their preferred course. Some comments of students included “Good introduction to the profession” and that they get the basic knowledge of the preschool teacher education.

Another example is the Scientific Methods-VFU course offered in the sixth semester, which was selected as preferred by 73,3% of the students. Based on the students' written explanations, the main reason for that choice was the practical experience-knowledge that the students gain throughout this course, as well as that they feel that they can translate theory into practice during their internship. In the majority of the written explanations given by the students, students described their impression as the course providing them with experience in the preschool-class. It seems that before the course and their internship in the preschool-class they had a different, negative opinion about it, which be-came very positive after the end of the course. Also, it helped them feel more confident as preschool teachers, have a better perspective of what the work in preschool entails and whether or not it is a profession they seriously wish to pursue. The majority of the students in their written explanations stated that in this course had provided them with a good set up of information before and during their practice in preschool, as for example what kind of activities they could do during their intern-ship. This is a very important notice, that everything they read in those courses was connected with the practices in the field, so it seems that theory and practice in these courses go hand by hand, as it shows the good quality of those courses.

Furthermore, the majority of the students selected courses from the category of practice-oriented courses, as the most helpful for their professional development (Figure 1). An average of 18 stu-dents gave as the main reason of selecting those courses during the survey was that those courses help them to develop their knowledge in specific subjects each time as for example to deepen their knowledge in Mathematics and gain knowledge about how they can work with Nature in a preschool. For example, the 70% of the students chose in third term the course “Exploratory math-ematics” as the one that helped them the most to develop their professional development.

The more academical-oriented courses were the preference of the minority of the students. Less of the 50% of the students seem to choose these courses in each semester, as the most helpful for their

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professional development. The range of the students that chose those courses each semester is from 13,3% to 43,3% so always the percentage of the students is below 50%. The main explanation that the students gave for that is that they learn new theories, pedagogical knowledge, as well as how to have a better understanding of several topics according to their courses each time. Some examples of the students preference is that in the second term the more academically oriented course reached only the 13,3% of the students preferences reporting that it just helped them to understand better the use of the documentation, or that in the sixth term the thesis project for preschool teacher’s course gained a 26,7% of the students preferences, as they claimed that they go into depth on a topic that they are interested in or that they got the chance to investigate new topics, which small percentages related with those that the more academically oriented courses gained.

Only in one case in the fourth term, the results show that the students prefer almost equally an acad-emically oriented and a practically oriented course, with the percentage of 46,7% and 40% (Figure 1). The practical-oriented course, that had been selected by 14 students as useful for their profes-sional development, is the Natural Science and Technology in Preschool. Students described this course as the best course in which you can have fun and learn a lot about how to use nature and technology in the preschool. Moreover, they support that because it is a practical course, it helped them to learn and remember what they did with the kids during their internship. On the other hand, the academically oriented course, that had been selected by 12 students as the most useful for their professional development, is the Social Relations, Conflict Management and Pedagogical Leader-ship in preschool. Students chose this course because they consider it as very important for their professional development. Some of their responses were: “Social relation is the largest and the most important part of being able to handle things as a preschool teacher.” , “Help to develop my leader-ship and communicative skills, which are important for my profession.” , “It helps me to realize that in preschool good relationships are important as many things depend on it.” and generally that they understand the importance of social relationships and management and gain more knowledge about them, as well as how to react in different situations with parents for example.

Finally, despite the preferences of the students in more practically oriented courses, there is one course in the second term, Children’s Language Learning and Communication, that had be chosen less by the students as the most helpful for their professional development, as in this term they had to choose between two practically oriented courses. Only 30% found it more suitable for their pro-fessional development as preschool teachers. The only reason that students gave for this choice was

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the subject of the course, in this case, the language. 

As the aim of the current study is to examine the link between student perceptions of course content and their competence development is to understand the preferences of the preschool teacher’s edu-cation students between the theoretical and the more practical courses in relation with their profes-sional development, after asking the preschool teacher education students about which course from each term consider as the most useful for their professional development, participants were asked if they preferred more courses with practical training or the ones that focus on developing their theo-retical knowledge. In that question, they were given the opportunity to choose between the two above options, as well as to write their preference, in case that they want to say something more.

In Figure 2, it can be seen that the 53% of the students, gave a preference to courses with practical training in preschool, 30%, chose that they want a combination of both and only 16,7% prefer only courses with theoretical knowledge. It will be crucial to see what students choose to say when they choose a combination of both. I found some f their comments very useful for the further

develop-ment of the preschool teacher education pro-gram. For example, one student said that he/ she wants to test his skills after mathematics and language courses. Another student, for ex-ample, explained the importance of both “ in practice, I used what I learn in theory, and if I won’t have so much theory I would just being out for practice without any knowledge”.

Considering a high importance fact that almost 70% of the participants had a previous practical/ working experience a preschool, it was interesting to make a comparison of their preferences be-tween the courses (Figure 3). As seen in Figure 4, the 50% of students in both cases prefer courses that include practical training. Nevertheless, students without any previous working experience in preschool seem to prefer more courses with theoretical knowledge (30%) compared to those that had previous working experience (10%). On the other hand, a combination of courses with theoreti-cal knowledge and practitheoreti-cal training in preschool gained a double percentage of the students with previous experience than from those who hadn’t.

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This research also aims at examining how prepared the students felt by the end of their third year to work as preschool teachers and how competent preschool teacher they believe that they are. They were given two questions and asked to rate their answer with the option a) not at all, b) a little, c) enough and d) very much; the questions were: 1) if the students think that they are already

compe-tent as preschool teachers, 2) if they feel ready to work as a preschool teacher. In both cases, it is very important (Figure 5) that none of the students feel at all ready to work as a preschool teacher or that he/she is a competent preschool teacher. The results (Figure 5b) show that 60% of the students, or 18 out of 30 students, feel ready to work as preschool teachers. Although, a 26,7% feel enough ready to work as a preschool teacher and only a few of them (13,3%) scale themselves as that they feel little ready to be out and work as preschool teachers. On the other hand, at the figure 5a, it is observed that half of those who feel ready to work as a preschool teacher (see figure 5b), also feel that they are competent teachers, as well. Even though 14 of them feel that they are enough compe-tent as preschool teachers, which is very positive, only the rest 7 students believe that they are a bit competent as preschool teachers (figure 5a).

Figure 5a _{Figure 5b}

Figure 4

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6. Discussion

The research problem that this study wants to examine the gap between the practice-oriented and academical-oriented courses. When I did the survey I asked more information about the preschool teacher education program students perspectives of practice-based and theory-based courses accord-ing to their usefulness to the students' professional development and not about the “theory-practice gap”. This is the first time that a study focus theory versus practice in preschool teacher education program from the above point of view. The most major finding was that most of the students choose practical-based courses as the most helpful for their professional development, regardless of their previous background.

According to our findings, this gap that previous researchers (Johansson, 2005; Malm, 2017; Karls-Lohmander, 2015) identify in Swedish preschool teacher education program does not exist in this program of a Southern Swedish College. Most of the students referred to their answers that in all the courses theory and practice go hand in hand. Nevertheless, regardless of students background, more than half of the participating students prefer more practice-based courses because is the ones that they can test themselves as preschool teachers and apply all their knowledge in practice. Sur-prisingly, some 30 percent of the students with previous working experience in a preschool make clear that the best solution is to have equally theory and practical based courses as to help them to develop more their professional identity, in order the students to have the opportunity to apply all their theoretical knowledge into practice. Generally, VFU courses and courses with practical activi-ties gain the most answers, as the most helpful for students professional development. Furthermore, our findings show that almost one semester before the program ends, 60 percent of preschool teacher education program students feel ready to work as a preschool teacher, as well as 46,7 per-cent of them feel already enough competent teachers. These numbers are very significant, as it seems that students after finishing this program will be very competent preschool teachers, ready to work and that they gain almost the whole knowledge that a preschool teacher needs.

This research study has some limitations as it focused only in the main aim of preschool teacher ed-ucation students perspectives about practice-based and theory-based courses according to their pro-fessional development, so not all the aspects that we come up with have been investigated in depth. Moreover, from the 84 students, who are studying in the 6th term of the preschool teacher education teacher program in this college, only 30 participate in this research as it was up to the students if

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they are willing to participate or not. Also, a weakness was that in my research I don’t include an interview with a teacher’s opinion after several years of completing this program or an interview with a current student to give a better understanding of the students perspectives.

7. Conclusion

To conclude, the purpose of this study was to investigate the “gap” that exists between academical-oriented courses and the practical-academical-oriented courses/internship during the undergraduate program of the preschool education at the university. After collecting my data I found that there is no gap be-tween the academical-oriented and practice-oriented courses in this preschool teacher’s education program. This conclusion came after the concrete reading of the students' responses to the given survey. Specifically, they report “There we clearly link theory and practice”, “It was great to gain experience and to be able to put more theory together with practice”, “Through practice, I got the opportunity to develop further while at the same time gaining access to what has been learned in the courses before the VFU”, “Convert theoretical knowledge into practical experience”. This was in-teresting itself and differed considering previous teaching experiences. Although there wasn’t a gap, I found information on their types-of-class preferences relating to their professional development.

Thus, this research is the beginning to develop the knowledge about the preferences of the preschool teacher’s education students between the theory-based and the practice-based courses in relation to their professional development in an institution of higher education in Sweden. Further-more, as the students came from a different background as some of them had a previous working experience in a preschool and some of them not, all of them agreed that practical-oriented courses helped them the most to feel ready to work as a preschool teachers and to develop their professional skills via the workshops and the internships as they have to confront with the actual work in the preschool. Additionally, it was impressive that some students feel that some academical-oriented courses also important for their professional development, as they became more open minded. Some examples according their responses are: “gain further knowledge about just social relations and conflict management, as it may be hard to know how to deal with different situations with, for example, guardians”, “learned more about different philosophers and how to learn in different ways” and “Got to learn about different methods to develop thinking”. My interest caught by a stu-dents response about the importance of the practice-oriented and academical-oriented courses, where he gave the following answer; “I would say both. For example, in practice, I get use of what I

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learned. But if we had not had so much theory, I would not have learned everything by just being out of practice”, which shows the importance of the academical-oriented courses in the preschool teacher education program.

Finally, if I will redo this research, I will use interviews to collect my data in order to have a better understanding on the topic of the “theory-practice gap”. Also, given that the preschool education program has one more semester, a further research it is suggested in order to have the students opin-ions after the completion of all semesters of the preschool teacher education program or also after few years of working experience as preschool teachers. Moreover, a different research can be con-ducted in order to examine if their opinions vary after each year, which could place emphasis on analyzing the opinions of students after each year. Also, as the competence of the teacher was an important part that it wasn’t figured out in depth in this research, it is suggested for further research on how the perspective preschool teachers could become competent teachers.

References:

Bryman A. (2015). Social Research Methods. (pp.184-206) Oxford, Oxford University Press.

DfES (2005a), Children’s Workforce Strategy (CWS) Consultation, DfES, London.

Johansson J. (2006). Will there be any preschool teachers in the future? In Einarsdottir J., Wagner J. (Eds), Nordic Childhoods and Early Education: Philosophy, Research, Policy, and Practice in Den-mark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (pp. 43-69) Greenwich CT, Information Age Publish-ing.

Johansson I. & Sandberg A. (2012). Learning and knowledge development in preschool teacher ed-ucation and practicum. Early Child Development and Care, 182:7, 907-920.

Karlsson-Lohmander M. (2015). Bridging “the gap” - linking workplace-based and university-based learning in preschool teacher education in Sweden. Early Years, 35 (2), 168-183.

Lillvist A., Sandberg A., Sheridan S. & Williams P. (2014). Preschool teacher competence viewed from the perspective of students in early childhood teacher education. Journal of Education for Teaching, 40:1, 3-19.

Malm B. (2017). “We Need to Give the Profession Something that No One Else Can”: Swedish Student Teachers’ Perceptions and experiences of their Preschool Teacher Training Pro-gramme. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 16 (9), 73-87.

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Mukherji P. & Albon D. (2015). Research Methods in Early Childhood, An Introductory Guide. London: Sage

OECD (2017), Starting Strong 2017: Key OECD Indicators on Early Childhood Education and Care, Paris: OECD.

OECD (2001) Starting Strong I: Early Childhood Education and Care. Paris: OECD.

OECD (2006) Starting Strong II: Early Childhood Education and Care. Paris: OECD.

Sheridan S., Williams P., Sandberg A. & Vuorinen T. (2011). Preschool teaching in Sweden - a pro-fession in change. Educational Research, 53:4, 415-437.

Taguchi-Lenz H. (2007). Deconstructing and Transgressing the Theory-Practice dichotomy in early childhood education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 39:3, 275-290.

Wermke W. & Hostfalt G. (2014). Silent and explicit borrowing of international policy discourses. The case of the Swedish teacher education reforms of 2001 and 2011. Education Inquiry, 5:4. 445-460.

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APPENDIX A

QUESTIONNAIRE - SWEDISH VERSION (given to students)

Praktiska eller teoretiska kurser i förskolelärarens utbildningsprogram - Studenterpreferen-ser

Hej! Jag heter Katerina Georgiadou och är student på HLK:s EDUCARE Mastersprogram. Föl-jande enkät kommer att användas i min Master uppsats som bär titeln Praktisk vs. Teoretisk Kun-skap: Förskollärarestudentens erfarenheter. Jag kommer bara se resultaten och inte vem som har svarat, dvs att dina svar blir anonyma. Enkäten tar ca 10 minuter, och inte mer än 15 minuter att fylla i. Tack så mycket för din tid.

1. Hade du tidigare arbetserfarenhet inom förskolan innan du började förskoleutbildningen?  a) Ja 

b) Nej 

2. TERMIN 1: Vilken kurs tycker du har hjälpt din professionell utveckling som förskollärare mest? (Du kommer välja en från varje termin)  

a) Förskola, skola och läraryrke på vetenskaplig grund och verksamhets förlagd utbildning I  b) Lärande och utveckling för förskollärare 

c) Vetenskapliga perspektiv och metoder för förskollärare 

2a. Förskola, skola och läraryrke på vetenskaplig grund och verksamhets förlagd utbildning I -Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare. 

2b. Lärande och utveckling för förskollärare - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare. 

2c. Vetenskapliga perspektiv och metoder för förskollärare - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/ det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare. 

a) Didaktiskt arbete i förskolan I 

b) Verksamhets förlagd utbildning II för förskollärare 

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3a. Didaktiskt arbete i förskolan I - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

3b. Verksamhets förlagd utbildning II för förskollärare - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

3c. Uppföljning, utvärdering och utveckling I för förskollärare - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

a) Barns språkliga lärande och kommunikation i förskolan  b) Utforskande matematik i förskolan 

4a. Barns språkliga lärande och kommunikation i förskolan - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/ det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

4b. Utforskande matematik i förskolan - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

a) Sociala relationer, konflikthantering och pedagogiskt ledarskap i förskolan  b) Specialpedagogik i förskolan 

c) Naturvetenskap och teknik i förskolan 

5a. Sociala relationer, konflikthantering och pedagogiskt ledarskap i förskolan - Beskriv kortfat-tat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

5b. Specialpedagogik i förskolan - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

5c. Naturvetenskap och teknik i förskolan - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

a) Förskollärarens profession 

b) Verksamhets förlagd utbildning III för förskollärare 

c) Uppföljning, utvärdering och utveckling II för förskollärare 

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som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

6b. Verksamhets förlagd utbildning III för förskollärare - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskol-lärare 

6c. Uppföljning, utvärdering och utveckling II för förskollärare - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

a) Vetenskapliga metoder och verksamhets förlagd utbildning IV för förskollärare  b) Examensarbete för förskollärare 

7a. Vetenskapliga metoder och verksamhets förlagd utbildning IV för förskollärare - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din profes-sionell utveckling som förskollärare 

7b. Examensarbete för förskollärare - Beskriv kortfattat det som hände/det du gjorde i den här kursen som har bidragit mest till din professionell utveckling som förskollärare 

8. Föredrar du kurser med praktisk träning i förskolan eller kurser som fokuserar på att utveckla din teoretisk kunskap? 

i) Praktisk träning i förskolan  ii) Teoretisk kunskap 

iii) Other 

9. Tycker du att du är redan kompetent som förskollärare? Betygsätt ditt svar  i) Inte alls 

ii) Lite 

iii) Tillräckligt  iv) Mycket 

10. Känner du dig redo att att börja yrkeslivet som förskollärare?  i) Inte alls 

ii) Lite 

iii) Tillräckligt  iv) Mycket 

11. Denna fråga kommer endast att användas för att rekryter studenter för att svara på enkäten.  Vem är din uppsatshandledare? 

- Susanna Anderstaf - Karin Alnervik  - Petra Assarsson - Git Blomberg  - Maria Bybro - Fredrik Ebefors 

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- Ingrid Granbom - Sara Hvit  - Monica Nilsson - Cathrine Ryther  - Emma Sjogren - Eva Dalhqvsit

APPENDIX B

QUESTIONNAIRE - ENGLISH VERSION

Practical or theoretical courses in preschool education program - Students preferences. 1. Did you have previous work experience in preschool before you started preschool education? 

a) Yes   b) No

2. TERM 1: What course do you think has helped your professional development as a preschool teacher? (You will choose one from each term) 

a. Preschool, School and Teaching Profession based on Science and Preschool Practicum I   b. Teaching and Development for Preschool Teachers 

c. Scientific Perspectives and Methods for Preschool Teachers 

2a. Preschool, School and Teaching Profession based on Science and Preschool Practicum I - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional de-velopment as a pre-school teacher. 

2b. Teaching and Development for Preschool Teachers - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

2c. Scientific Perspectives and Methods for Preschool Teachers - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

a. Didactic work in preschool I 

b. Preschool Practicum II for preschool teachers  

c. The follow-up, evaluation, and development I for pre-school teachers 

3a. Didactic work in preschool I - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

3b. Business-based education II for preschool teachers - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

3c. The follow-up, evaluation, and development I for pre-school teachers - Briefly describe what hap-pened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

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a. Children’s Language Learning and Communication in Preschool   b. Exploratory Mathematics in Preschool 

4 a. Children’s Language Learning and Communication in Preschool - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher.  

4b. Exploratory Mathematics in Preschool - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

a.Social Relations, Conflict Management and Pedagogical Leadership in Preschool  b. Special Education in Preschool 

c.Natural Science and Technology in Preschool 

5a.Social Relations, Conflict Management and Pedagogical Leadership in Preschool - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

5b. Special Education in Preschool - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

5c.Natural Science and Technology in Preschool - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

a. The Preschool teacher profession  b. Preschool Practicum III 

c. The follow-up, Evaluation and Development II for Preschool Teacher 

6 a. The Preschool teacher profession - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

b. Preschool Practicum III - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has con-tributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

c. The follow-up, Evaluation and Development II for Preschool Teacher - Briefly describe what hap-pened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher.

a. Scientific Methods and Preschool Practicum IV  b. Thesis Project for Preschool Teacher  

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this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

7b. Thesis Project for Preschool Teacher - Briefly describe what happened / what you did in this course that has contributed most to your professional development as a pre-school teacher. 

8. Do you prefer courses with practical training in preschool or courses that focus on developing your theo-retical knowledge? 

a) Practical training in preschool  b) Theoretical knowledge  c) Other: 

9. Do you think you are already competent as a pre-school teacher? Rate your answer  a) Not at all 

b) A little  c) Enough  d) Very 

10. Are you ready to work as a preschool teacher? Rate your answer  a) Not at all 

b) A little  c) Enough  d) Very

Training the Next Generation of Early Childhood Education Teachers: Students’ perspectives on academic vs. practice-oriented experiences in university training